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The Rechabites

¹ This is the word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah: ² "Go to the house of the Rechabites and speak to them. Then bring them to one of the rooms of the house of the Lord, and give them wine to drink." ³ So I took Jaazaniah the son of Jeremiah, son of Habazziniah, and his brothers and all his sons, and all those of the Rechabite family. ⁴ And I brought them into the house of the Lord, into the room of the sons of Hanan, the son of Igdaliah, the man of God. This room was near the room of the leaders and above the room of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, the doorkeeper. ⁵ Then I set jars full of wine and some cups in front of the men of the Rechabite family. And I said to them, "Drink wine." ⁶ But they said, "We will not drink wine. For Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, told us, ‘You and your sons must never drink wine. ⁷ You must never build a house. You must never plant seeds. And you must never plant a grape-field or own one. But you must always live in tents. Then you will live many days in the land where you have come to.' ⁸ We have obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, in all that he told us. We, our wives, our sons, and our daughters, never drink wine. ⁹ We have never built houses to live in, and we do not have grape-fields or fields or seeds to plant. ¹⁰ We have only lived in tents. We have obeyed, and have done all that our father Jonadab told us. ¹¹ But when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against the land, we said, ‘Come and let us go to Jerusalem to get away from the armies of the Chaldeans and the Syrians.' So we are living in Jerusalem."

¹² Then the Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, ¹³ "This is what the Lord of All, the God of Israel, says: ‘Go and say to the men of Judah and the people of Jerusalem, "Will you not learn by listening to My words?" says the Lord. ¹⁴ "The words of Jonadab the son of Rechab, telling his sons not to drink wine, are obeyed. They do not drink wine to this day, for they have obeyed their father. But I have spoken to you again and again, yet you have not listened to Me. ¹⁵ And again and again I have sent you all My servants who spoke for Me, saying, ‘Everyone turn now from your sinful way, and do what I tell you to do. Do not go after other gods to worship them. Then you will live in the land I have given to you and to your fathers before you. But you have not turned your ear to listen to Me. ¹⁶ The sons of Jonadab, the son of Rechab, have obeyed what their father told them, but these people have not listened to Me.'"' ¹⁷ So the Lord, the God of All, the God of Israel, says, ‘I am bringing on Judah and on all the people of Jerusalem all the trouble I have said would come upon them. For I spoke to them but they did not listen. I have called them but they did not answer.'"

¹⁸ Then Jeremiah said to those of the Rechabite family, "This is what the Lord of All, the God of Israel, says: ‘You have obeyed everything that Jonadab your father told you to do. ¹⁹ And so the Lord of All, the God of Israel, says, "Jonadab the son of Rechab will never be without a man to stand before Me."'"